Jens Ove, the working duo and the faithful HMF crane that keeps Randers Harbour running

At Randers Harbour lies the tugboat Jens Ove. It was built in 1981 at Assens Shipyard and delivered directly to the harbour, ready for three tasks: towing, icebreaking, and maintaining the navigational marks that guide the harbour’s other ships safely to their destination. In the middle of the deck stands the old HMF crane – and it has been there from the very beginning.

Captain Per and crane operator Erik have worked together for 26 years.
“We’re like an old married couple,” Per says. “We don’t say much, but we know what the other is thinking.”

Erik has many roles on board: engine man, cook, and crane operator.
“I look after the whole ship,” he says with a twinkle in his eye.

When Jens Ove sails, they sail together. They are on call all year round – ready when ice closes the harbour, or when ships need help turning, reversing, or getting free.

So how did the ship get the name Jens Ove? When the boat was to be christened, everyone on the harbour committee had to put a slip of paper with a suggested name into a hat. The chairman of the harbour committee, Jens Ove, did not want his suggestion to become the boat's name, so he wrote his own name on the slip – and that very slip was drawn. Today, the boat shares its name with the former harbour committee chairman, the man who had overall responsibility and kept operations running. Now it is the tugboat Jens Ove that plays a central role in the harbour’s daily life, carrying out its tasks all year round.

There is ice almost every year in Randers Harbour, and as an icebreaker Jens Ove crushes the ice so ships can enter and leave safely. During the rest of the year, the work includes maintaining navigational marks – around 200 buoys along the 30 km stretch from Randers Harbour through Randers Fjord and out towards the Kattegat must be replaced and maintained by the harbour’s employees.

Here, the crane plays a crucial role. It lifts buoys and anchors on board when markings are replaced. The crane is a 45-year-old HMF model A66 K2, and it has been on board since 1981 and is still in daily operation.

“It works perfectly,” says Erik, who has operated the crane for 35 years. He maintains it himself, while it is also inspected regularly.

When the two of them are on duty, it is with 24-hour readiness – which also means working on Christmas eve. If a ship on their route gets into trouble, Per, Erik, and Jens Ove are ready to respond. Per smiles as he recalls a Christmas Eve that required their services and almost resulted in the two of them celebrating Christmas together with Jens Ove instead of their families. “Yes, we were very close to missing the Christmas dinner” Per says with a laugh.

Getting home for Christmas is presumably preferable for the two gentlemen, but they have developed a small Christmas tradition together with Jens Ove over the years. Every December, the boat sails around with a light-decorated Christmas tree at the top of the vessel. Per and Erik explain that this is to create a cosy Christmas atmosphere for everyone passing by Randers Harbour in December.

And after this informative, charming, and entertaining visit with Per and Erik on board the boat they have called their shared workplace for 26 years, I can only conclude that if there is one thing the old icebreaker can do, it is to create atmosphere and life in Randers Harbour – all year round.